The sheer physical size and complexity of many facilities (office buildings, factories, hospitals, and schools, for example) coupled with increasing awareness of the possibility of an emergency evacuation from such facilities suggests the benefits of a simple system to monitor occupancy of the facility, including visitors, such that emergency workers can determine rapidly the completeness of evacuation, identify individuals presumably remaining in the facility, and have a reasonable indication of the location in the building where an individual normally would be located. In non-emergency situations, such a system provides a census of occupancy, and for vehicles, such as school busses, the system indicates individuals boarding and exiting the vehicle, and re-boarding after stops, such as after a field trip. Such monitoring systems improve safety of occupants, enhance the efficiency and safety of emergency workers, and simplify certain supervisory responsibilities of organizations with in loco parentis responsibilities.
Wireless technology has been used to track/locate units from a central office. U.S. Pat. No. 6,356,841 issued Mar. 12, 2002 to Hamrick and Ingman describes and claims a system whereby global positioning system receivers located in vehicles communicate with a central office computer to indicate the location of the vehicle and data related to the operation of the vehicle. The '841 system also allows an office supervisor to determine whether the vehicle has departed from a pre-scheduled route and to communicate with the vehicle operator.
Wireless means have been described to assist in the evacuation of non-ambulatory individuals from a fixed structure. U.S. Pat. No. 5,633,621 issued May 27, 1997 to McDonald describes a system whereby a non-ambulatory individual may enter confidential information including name, destination in the facility, and the nature or extent of disability into a building monitoring system. In the event of an emergency, rescue workers may access the confidential information and determine the location of individuals that may require special assistance. The '621 patent does not suggest how successful evacuation would be monitored to minimize the risks faced by independent emergency workers returning to a location searching for an individual that in fact had safely been evacuated from the facility.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,348,860 issued Feb. 19, 2002 to Davis and Shock describes an evacuation monitoring system in which evacuation wardens visually inspect designated areas and evacuation routes from a given area and activate a reporting system at a remote location to indicate the status of each inspected area. The system allows the evacuation warden to call for specific assistance as needed to accomplish the evacuation successfully.
Tag tracking affords an additional means to track articles, including individuals using moderately sophisticated electronic technology that appears to be less than practical to monitor evacuations from large facilities. U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,781 issued Apr. 3, 2001 to McDonald describes a device and method of tracking articles within a facility using electronic signals. Each article includes a tag that functions as a micro-transmitter/receiver. Tag readers throughout the facility identify each tag within their range and the location of the article is readily determined. This article tracking technology could be useful in tracking the movement of individuals in and around secured areas of a facility, but complexity, range limitations, and potential expense all argue against its general use to monitor evacuations from large facilities. Tag tracking systems are in commercial use to minimize removal of merchandize from retail outlets.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,085 describes a system whereby personal identification badges may be used to access computers, including patient data stored in certain types of patient care equipment in health care/delivery facilities. The widely recognized patient identification wrist bracelet may be integrated to ensure that only confidential information related to an identified patient is displayed. Both the identification badge and bracelet could be modified to provide a basis for monitoring the location of individuals in a health care facility. However, the '085 patent does not suggest this application.
Various public safety officers, police and fire fighters carry personal, wireless communications devices for safety and efficiency. Certain commercially available devices are designed to warn emergency workers of hazards or to order evacuation of rescue workers from an area or facility. Some devices also include the capacity to transmit requests for assistance. Such devices generally communicate to a designated “command center.” Practical considerations limit the value of such technologies with respect to large, diverse facilities.
Thus, there remains room and need for the development of a wireless system to monitor ingress/egress of facilities, to provide emergency workers current data as to areas in a facility under emergency conditions, and to search for those who have not evacuated the facility. There remains additional need for development of a system to assist supervisors in monitoring ingress/egress and subsequent ingress of individuals to vehicles transporting groups of individuals.